The Delhi High Court on Friday questioned IRS officer Sameer Wankhede over the maintainability of his defamation suit against Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix in connection with The Ba***ds of Bollywood, as per reports.

According to a report by The Hindu, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav asked Wankhede's lawyer about how their plea was maintainable in Delhi.

To that, advocate Sandeep Sethi, who is representing Wankhede, mentioned that the Netflix series is distributed and meant for across all cities in India, including Delhi, and that his client has been defamed in it.

However, Sethi said that he is ready to amend the plaint as per needs.

The high court allowed Wankhede time to submit an amended application before proceeding with the hearing.

The controversy stems from a scene in Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan’s directorial debut series that sparked speculation online about a dig at Wankhede — the former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer who arrested Aryan in the 2021 drug case.

In the scene, an officer storms into a high-profile film party and finds a man smoking a joint. Upon discovering the man is not from Bollywood, the officer lets him go. Moments later, he detains another man — who is only sipping a drink — simply because he belongs to the film industry.

In his plea, Wankhede described Aryan Khan’s debut web series as “false, malicious, and defamatory”. He alleged the series “disseminates a misleading and negative portrayal of anti-drug enforcement agencies, thereby eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions”.

Wankhede further claimed the series has been “deliberately” conceptualised and executed with the intent to malign Sameer Wankhede’s reputation in a “colourable and prejudicial” manner.

Pointing to one particular sequence, Wankhede said, “Furthermore, the series, inter alia, depicts a character making an obscene gesture—specifically, showing a middle finger after the character recites the slogan ‘Satyamev Jayate’ which is the part of the National Emblem. This act constitutes a grave and sensitive violation of the provisions of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, which attracts penal consequences under law.”

The officer has reportedly sought damages of Rs 2 crore, adding that the sum would be donated to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for the treatment of cancer patients.